Illustration

Whether you dream to captivate young minds with your illustrations in children's books, shape the visual future of entertainment through game and movie concept art, or influence people with your editorial illustrations, our course is designed to transform your creative aspirations into a vibrant, successful career in the multifaceted field of illustration.

On our illustration degree, we will help you develop strong drawing, composition, and colour skills that will underpin your personal visual language, allowing you to develop a unique voice as an artist. You’ll gain the experience, confidence, and advanced technical skills you need to succeed. We are unique amongst illustration courses in giving you a thorough grounding in graphic design which is highly regarded and recognised by industry.

You’ll receive extensive feedback, support, and advice throughout your studies and have access to professional facilities and equipment, as well as the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, including ‘live briefs’ to develop and hone your skills.

You'll be allocated a dedicated space within our open-plan Illustration and Graphic Design studio, which you can personalise to suit your creative needs. Students across all year groups work within this larger professional space, so you'll also get the chance to meet and collaborate with peers, share feedback, and discuss ideas.

Course Overview

Whether you're passionate about children's books, editorial design, concept art, or visual storytelling, our BA (Hons) Illustration course helps you develop a distinctive voice and stand out in a competitive industry.

You’ll establish strong foundations in drawing, composition, and both digital and analogue techniques, all while cultivating your own unique visual style. In your first year, you’ll collaborate with Graphic Design students, gaining valuable insights into the broader landscape of visual communication and creative teamwork.

In your final year, you’ll undertake advanced projects focused on your interests, complete an independent research paper, and showcase your portfolio to industry professionals. By graduation, you’ll be equipped with the confidence, creativity, and practical experience to excel in the dynamic world of illustration.

On this course you will...

• Study illustration within a university institute recognised by the industry as a course provider that engenders strong drawing skills. Through doing so, we provide our graduates with the backbone of a long career in illustration.

• Be encouraged to develop an individual approach to illustration - allowing you to develop a personal style that stands out from the crowd.

• Have regular and meaningful contact with tutorials, workshops, and discussions - reinforcing your practice with the support of tutors and peers who know you and your work inside and out.

• Be included in deciding what direction the course/module/brief should take. Small group sizes mean a supportive and open community of practice.

• Have access to a large professional studio space that is open plan and shared across all-year groups. Stock up on supplies with our in-house shop and experiment in our reprographic department.

In a professional sense, the word ‘illustration’ represents an exciting and very varied discipline that ranges from self-authored graphic novels and comic art, through concept art for film, TV, and games to the more traditional work for magazines, books and advertising, animation, and much, much more. What links all of these disciplines is the ability to connect audiences with ideas, information, or products through engaging and memorable illustrative communications.

Our aim is to inspire you to become an innovative, individual illustrator. We’ll help you develop strong drawing skills as a firm foundation for your life as an illustrator, but our uniquely-designed course will also expand your design skills to give you an insight into one of the major markets for illustration work.

Year One

• Introducing Visual Communication
• Cultural Contexts
• Collaborative Practice
• Multi-Dimensional Illustration

Year Two

• The Illustrators Toolkit
• Drawing
• Illustration Projects
• The Critical Illustrator

Year Three

• Advanced Illustration Projects
• Independent Research Paper
• Illustration Showcase

Throughout the course, you will be continuously involved in the assessment of your own work and that of your peers to help in the development of critical, interpersonal, and team-working skills that are vital to gaining confidence and independence as a creative practitioner.

Examples of assessment opportunities include:

• Crits (short for ‘critique’) - these lie at the heart of education in Illustration. These take place at the end of a project and will normally comprise a small group of your fellow students, and up to two members of staff, where you will be expected to present your work to the group. The effectiveness of your work and presentation will then be discussed by all present and you will receive a large amount of verbal feedback.
• Projects are the usual vehicle by which you develop your design knowledge and expertise. The evaluation of project work is central to this degree programme. The project work you undertake during years two and three will form the content of the professional portfolio of work you will take with you when pursuing employment at the end of the course.
• Portfolio/s Two things make up the ‘portfolio’ – the qualities of the work itself (is it good design / contemporary / fully resolved); and the manner in which that work is presented on the portfolio pages (visual narrative / flow / sequencing / attention-to-detail).

The range of learning, teaching, and assessment methods used enable different aspects of your learning to be developed and tested. As well as testing what you know and can do at the end of a module (Summative Assessment) you’ll get regular advice and guidance while your work is in progress (Formative Feedback) through one-to-one, peer-to-peer, and group tutorials.